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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22962133">the blackmarsh blues</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bokutoma/pseuds/bokutoma'>bokutoma</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Banter, Canon-Typical Banter, Canon-Typical Violence, Cousland (Dragon Age) Being an Asshole, Gay Cousland (Dragon Age), Gen, Named Cousland (Dragon Age), Self-Indulgent, Sibling Bonding, Slice of Life, as far as tainted warriors fighting against unspeakable horrors can have that, for bo, for moira, violence isn't that graphic imo but better safe than sorry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 13:00:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>950</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22962133</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bokutoma/pseuds/bokutoma</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>moira isn't so good at following orders, but if the job is like this, she'll follow her brother anywhere</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Female Cousland &amp; Male Cousland (Dragon Age), Female Cousland/Nathaniel Howe, Zevran Arainai/Male Cousland, latter two by mention only</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>the blackmarsh blues</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this is by request for cailin!! &lt;333 thank u for letting me borrow bo again</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Let it never be said that the Cousland twins couldn't handle their swords.</p><p>Moira said as much, the levity of her voice a stark contrast to the gloomy air of the Blackmarsh, and beside her, Nathaniel laughed as he nocked another arrow.</p><p>"Don't talk to me about how you handle swords," Boris spat as he cleaved a blight wolf handily in two. "Fucking disgusting, you are."</p><p>Really, this was the wrong crowd for him to be prudish.</p><p>"I'd like to see how <em>either</em> of you handle a sword." Anders' voice rang out loudly as he hopped on top of a jagged rock along the bank of the foul water that edged the marsh, narrowly avoiding snapping jaws. Distracted as he was, he missed the twin looks of disdain the other men shot him as Moira grinned, bashing her shield into a sickly werewolf until chunks of flesh tore away in the shape of the Cousland crest.</p><p>"Come see me after we make it out of this Maker-cursed marsh and I'll give you a live demonstration!" she called back once she'd decapitated the pathetic thing, leaning against a tree as she sheathed her weapon half for the pleasure of watching the mage dance as he tried to fry the blight wolf still below him. "I'm sure Nathaniel won't mind."</p><p>If Moira were any less familiar with Boris' theatrics, the sound of his retching might have been more concerning.</p><p>"Suppose I'll take what I can get," Anders said as Nathaniel took pity and shot the damned creature. "Milord Monogamy, any time you feel like changing that, shout and I'll come running."</p><p>"Sickening, the whole lot of you," Nathaniel mumbled, and Moira couldn't help the way that small affection tugged at the careful corners of her mouth into something more genuine and raw.</p><p>"Leave Boris out of this," she said, bumping Nathaniel's shoulder and pitching her voice loud enough for the other two to hear. "Poor man's just missing his beloved assassin."</p><p>"Hey, at least mine's successful!"</p><p>"I'm afraid he's got you there." Moira, having grown up with two brothers, danced out of the path of the rogue's vengeful elbow before he even started the course to ram it into her side. "Limbs off the merchandise, friend!"</p><p>"Thought this kind of talk was usually grounds for insubordination." There was no need to look back to hear the cheer in Anders' voice. "This is leagues better than being executed! Who would have known?"</p><p>"Try the same and I'll cut your balls off," Boris grumbled.</p><p>There was no room for additional witty banter as more blighted werewolves raced forward from the depths of the woods that cradled the Blackmarsh, and the whistle of the Cousland sword that her brother wielded as it carved brutal lines into tainted flesh filled Moira with fierce glee.</p><p>"Left!" called Nathaniel, and in tandem, both she and Boris stepped to their right, as rehearsed as everything the two of them had practiced since they were children.</p><p>(This was a maneuver they'd designed in their youth and one they'd perfected during the Blight, as neither had trusted the aim of the Highever knights to be true enough to risk it. Leliana and Zevran had been more than reliable enough, though, and it had been sufficient to bring that childhood daydream to life.</p><p>Nathaniel, of course, had picked it up quite handily, being both a crack shot and an accomplice in many of their schemes.)</p><p>Two popped eyes and a hacked limb later, Anders had another fire spell primed, and the beasts were alight.</p><p>"Bet you never got anything like that up in the Free Marches," Boris said as they settled down for a midday break - not that any of them could really see the position of the sun through the fog and the tangled latticework of the gnarled tree branches above them. "Good old Ferelden, always willing to take your lowest expectations and stomp them to a pulp."</p><p>"You'd be surprised," Nathaniel replied, the barest hint of humor laced through his voice, but he ambled off to keep watch, Anders following along, so perhaps he hadn't a story to best this one after all.</p><p>Not that he could have topped a fucking Archdemon, though.</p><p>"And how are you faring on this delightful evening, brother mine?" Moira asked, voice softening as the others walked out of earshot. Gently, so as not to exacerbate any possible injuries, she leaned against him, shoulders pressed together like they were still just as inseparable as they'd been when they'd been children.</p><p>In many ways - the important ones - they were.</p><p>"Tired," Boris admitted in that small voice he only used when they were alone. "There's so much to do. Feels like I can't take a moment to breathe."</p><p>"Heavy is the head," she agreed, looping her arm through his. "But that's why you have me, to share the burden and all that. Even the mighty slayer of Archdemons can rely on his older sister every now and then."</p><p>He smiled at that even though she knew he hated the way she wielded their minutes apart, and perhaps that was the surest sign of his exhaustion. "I do appreciate that, you know. Even if I never say it because you're a bitch and you'd get a big head."</p><p>What could she do in response to that but laugh?</p><p>"Wouldn't trade you for the world, Bo."</p><p>Any lingering good feeling, though, was dispelled by rustling footsteps behind them.</p><p>"Moira? Commander?" Nathaniel called, stepping back to their makeshift sanctuary. "We're all clear."</p><p>Boris nudged her, and there was a hint of the mischief that marked them both in the tilt of his mouth. "How about that?"</p><p>How about that indeed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i'm on twitter @kingblaiddyd !!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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